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Yesterday, while watching a sales webinar, I was struck by how relevant the information was for sharing Christ with others. Don’t get me wrong- I’m not talking about hawking your faith to people like you’re ready to hit the next tier of your MLM pyramid!

The whole webinar was about relating to potential clients in a way that draws them in. The educator offered some highly useful business tips that I’ve already begun to utilize so, if you’re not a person who’s comfortable or intent on sharing your faith then use this blog post for sales strategy. Either way I hope it’s helpful!

Sales Tip #1: By the time someone reaches out to you they’ve eliminated a lot of your competitors already.

If a client takes the time to reach out to me about my company’s services they are already interested in what I have to offer. Have you found this to be true when friends ask about your faith in Christ? In my experience, the ones who’ve reached out to me have ‘shopped’ other religions or belief systems without finding the one that fit their needs. Business wise and evangelically, this was a wake up call for me to be more mindful of the potential for relationship.

Sales Tip #2: Don’t adopt a different persona when you reach out to people.

Learning how to be ‘me’ in email correspondence was hard! At the start of our company I thought I had to be super businessy and formal to be taken seriously. The reality was I turned off some potential clients because they couldn’t sense the real me. My relating lacked congruence and they could feel it. At some point I came to terms with the fact that I’m an exclamation point and emoji type of person. If you like that – I’m your girl. If you don’t- I’m not. And that’s OK!

If someone asks you what you believe and why, don’t answer them like you have a doctorate in Theology (unless of course you do . Go you!) You can’t talk about a real faith in a real Saviour by acting fake. It doesn’t work. You be you.

Sales Tip #3: Don’t answer questions they haven’t asked yet.

Oh boy! I’ve made this mistake in sales and telling people about Jesus so. many . times!! When a prospective bridal client asks me about what to do with her hair I don’t give her makeup tips. Now, she might want makeup tips, but that’s not what she asked. If I flood her with info about ALLL the things there are two very possible outcomes. Either A. she doesn’t feel heard or B. she gets overwhelmed. I believe the same is true when answering questions about God and faith. If the initial question is about prayer, I’m not going to give advice on tithing. I’ve found both in sales and in faith talks, that a give and take conversation works best. They ask- I respond and counter by asking for more information to figure out specifically what they need. We might have 100% of the facts but if they only need or want 10% of it then we should find out which 10%.

Sales Tip #4: Serve don’t Sell

There’s a marked difference when my initial conversation with a bridal client is born out of a desire to give rather than to get. The minute I start focusing on ‘getting the sale’ rather than offering her something that I truly believe will make her wedding experience better I become disconnected from her. The minute we talk about our Christian faith and all we can think of is getting them to say the Salvation Prayer the conversation becomes about us and not them.

There’s a tiny French bakery named Collet’s by my gym that has a Starbucks across the street from it. The Starbucks is much larger , but I will choose Collet’s for my business meetings every time. Why? Because when I’m enjoying my fabulous cappuccino, Collet comes over to give us a Madeline cookie or ask us if we would like some water. She serves her clients with love.We don’t need to sell people on God. All we need to do is serve them. Serve with your kindness. Serve with your love. Serve with your listening. Answer their interest in Jesus by living a life that reflects him. Passing out cookies is a nice touch too though.